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44

Keywords:

Design, Biomimetics, hybridism,

bio-technology, sustainability,

Hybrid Design Lab at University

of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

Article Information

Received:

21 December 2018

Received in Revised Form:

19 June 2019

Accepted:

11 July 2019

Available online:

14 July 2019

* Department DADI, Università degli

Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”,

Aversa (CE), Italy

carla.langella@unicampania.it

**Department DISTABIF, Università degli

Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”,

Caserta, Italy

valentina.perricone@unicampania.it

Hybrid Biomimetic Design for Sustainable Development

Through Multiple Perspectives1

Carla LANGELLA*, Valentina PERRICONE**

Abstract

In the bio-technological era the boundary between the

biological world and synthetic world is increasingly fading, as

well as, the limit between different disciplines in the

perspective of multidisciplinary and anti-disciplinary.

Conversely, the overcoming of barriers is not to be considered

as a symptom of homogenization or loss of complexity, but

rather, as a paradigm, in which new forms of connection and

intersection between design and science are created. In this

vision, hybrid products can be generated in which nature and

artifice co-exist: a change of paradigm that deeply revises the

concept of environmental sustainability.

This paper aims to illustrate activities, methods and results of

the Hybrid Design Lab-(HDL)- Department of the Campania

University "Luigi Vanvitelli"- specifically dedicated to different

forms of collaboration and intersection between design and

bio-sciences, specifically aimed to environmental

sustainability.

1 This paper was presented in BEYOND ALL LIMITS - The International

Congress on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design in Çankaya

University Main Campus in Ankara between 17th and 19th October 2018

and has been expanded and revised as a journal article.

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1. Introduction

Presently, bioscience and biotechnology evolution prompts the dissolution of the frontier

between the biological and synthetic world providing new opportunities for nature and

artifice to cooperate and hybridize (Langella, 2007).

As a discipline, design is highly involved in decoding social, economic, scientific and

technological transformations under the form of new productive solutions. This conceptual

mutation is to be considered a possible opportunity to materialize new design system inspired

by nature in the creation of products and processes integrated with environment. New bio-

technological solutions aimed to repair human tissues and organs; systems to repopulate

endangered species; bio-sensing systems able to detect human and environmental disorders

and diseases: all examples of cooperation between humanity and nature able to realize new

forms of propulsive sustainability; i.e. an improvement of past protective and conservative

sustainability concepts (Mansel & Berger, 2017).

In this regard, environmental sustainability is not only considered the reduction of the human

activity impact on the ecosystem or the ability to conserve resources; but also as the capability

of developing new forms of human cooperation and integration with nature. In this vision,

sustainability is transformed in the ability of science to "regenerate" and "enhance" nature

(Mehaffy & Salingaros, 2017).

Design has become part of sustainability culture during a historical moment in which

environmental degradation, inducted by human activity, emerges as a fact and begins to be

officially cautioned and counteracted by the United Nations via protective environmental

actions, environmental resource management and sustainable projects (Tyagi, Garg & Paudel,

2014). Successively, design for sustainability extended its intervention from product and

service life cycle impacts to wider material and immaterial dimensions such as experience,

lifestyles, consumption and behavioural models (Vezzoli et al. 2017). Thus, design begin to

focus on all the aspects that are directly connected with user-product relations i.e how

products are loved and taken care of by users, or how products are resilient, adaptable,

reactive and capable of self-organization to respond to society changes. Interestingly, these

qualities and principles can be observed in nature, and are connected with something that can

be defined as “intelligence” of natural systems from which the sustainability culture can be

inspired.

Nature can help sustainable design not only teaching how to save resources or the way to

realize lighter and structural optimized artefacts, but also showing the life principles

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responsible of component integration and cooperation to create efficient resilient systems

(Lucibello et al., 2018).

Sustainable design must study these principles, as well as, the best way to transfer them into

the project. In order to do this, it is important to establish a close collaboration with biologists.

The Hybrid Design Lab (HDL) has extensively experimented these new design frontiers through

the development of an innovative biomimetic approach, in which designers and scientists

collaborate together to obtain innovative and biunivocal results. The HDL biomimetic projects

are carried out in collaboration with different fields of science, especially the biological sector,

and are aimed to better understand the relationship between morphological, structural and

behavioural features of natural systems (with all the "motivations" behind them) and to

transfer functional details and principles into the project for realizing new sustainable hybrid

design products.

In the HDL, the concept of sustainability is considered as a dynamic form of adaptation to the

emerging needs of human beings. In nature, the evolution of species induces the development

of new characteristics, systems, and functionalities, that make organisms increasingly adapted

to the environmental change; in a similar way, design can drive the evolution of products to

be more adapted for market environment and human needs that are equally subjected to

quick and radical changes caused mainly by technological advancement and socio-economic

dynamics.

The hybridism is the key of the HDL for this new sustainable direction and it is correlated to

the creation of products that emerge from the hybridization between biological and synthetic

dimension, as well as, between the different competences and disciplines that made this

possible. The HDL involves designers, chemists, biologists, engineers, neuroscientists and even

psychologists, who work together with the aim to bring the most advanced scientific

discoveries closer to people's everyday life through the development of new design products

that try to respond to emerging needs of contemporary life.

In order to facilitate the dialogue and collaboration among researchers coming from these

highly different contexts, for each HDL project it is important to clearly define common

objectives, common languages, as well as establish emphatic relations. This approach can

bring progress and advantages in both science and design field creating mutual and bi-univocal

collaborations.

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2. Hybrid Design. A new vision of sustainable innovation

Since 2006, new forms of mutual collaboration between design and life sciences have been

experimented in the HDL (Langella, 2007). In this association, biology provides inspirations

and strategic principles drawn from nature resulting in a sustainable innovation of products

and processes (e.g. manufacturing innovation driven by new forms of adaptability, flexibility

and resilience); design, on the other hand, helps biology to approach society and its dynamic

needs translating functional aspects of their research of natural systems into new products

(Langella, 2019).

The results of this biunivocal interaction are original biomimetic products, in which principles,

strategies and structures of natural systems are transferred into the design of more

sustainable artefacts (Kennedy & Marting, 2016), suitable to complex and changing needs

arising from the transformations of society e.g. the intensive use of technologies, the aging of

the population, the dynamism of people.

In other terms of sustainability, biomimetic design can even contribute and support studies in

bio-diversity and endangered species preservation. In fact, all the interpretative and

representative biology and design tools provide useful contributions to morphological,

structural or functional studies of biological systems aimed to understand and counteract the

effects of climate change, human intervention and pollution. Biologists carry out different

studies and practices for restoring damaged or destroyed ecosystems and habitats. In this

context, the designer can help biological research providing new tools such as 3D models and

printings. As an example, 3D printing technology is presently used for coral reef restoration:

reefs are dying out and, as an alternative intervention, many researchers are turning to 3D

printing in support of their restoration. In this light, the Australian group “Reef Design Lab”

designed a modular reef structure printed in ceramic submerged in the Maldives in August

2018 (presently the largest printed reef in the world).

The approaches and methodologies used in HDL are continuously updated in function of the

scientific research and literature evolution and adapted to specific standards i.e. biomimetics

ISO TC / 266.

HDL methodology applied in biomimetic design projects foresees two possible different

approaches: Biology to Design and Design to Biology. The first proposes natural models

induced by biology to design projects that correspond to the approach also defined as

solution-based (Badarnah & Kadri, 2015), solution-driven (Vattam et al., 2007), biology push

(ISO / TC 266 2015), biomimetics by induction (Gebeshuber & Drack, 2008). The second

approach commences from specific design problems and explores the most suitable solutions

in nature, an approach also defined as problem-driven (Fayemi et al., 2017), problem-based

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(Helms, et al., 2008), challenge to biology (Baumeister, 2014), technology pull (ISO / TC 266,

2015), top down (Speck, et al., 2008) or biomimetics by an alogy (Gebeshuber, 2008).

In the HDL biologists and designers operate in conjunction; through the observation and

subsequent interpretation of biological subjects -using optical microscopes, scanning electron

microscopes and x-ray tomography- they deal the phase of study nature. The choice of

perspective and details to observe are strongly oriented by design according to the project’s

aim. The interpretation of instrumental images is also conducted in cooperation and

translated into nature models (Chakrabarti et al., 2005). These could be 2D or 3D, static or

dynamic, virtual or physical, and are mainly obtained using digital tools; they represent

biological structures, their behaviour, movements and functional elements that could possibly

be transferred to the product project.

3. Biology to Design

This approach regards all the cases in which biologists, for increasing exploitation or

communication of their research or achieving other strategic aims (e.g. the safeguard of

endangered species), propose to designers the possibility to transfer new interesting

functional characters deduced by their research into the project of artefacts (Badarnah &

Kadri, 2015; Vattam et al., 2007; Gebeshuber & Drack, 2008).

The steps proposed for this approach are:

a) Selection of scientific content to be translated into products

Biologists, after identifying the potential transferable contents of their research, submit to

designers the scientific motivations of their choice of which they verify the applicability in

design driven sectors. In this initial selection, to ensure the scientific relevance of the project,

it is particularly useful to choose innovative topics, such as research content with high

international value due to its discoveries, primates and innovations that can be attested by

official rankings and bibliometric parameters.

b) Intersection meetings, representations and coaching

In this phase, designers deeply explore the scientific contents that must be transfer supported

by biologist. Designers can be facilitated by visiting the biologist research institution, where

the can "live" directly the environments, protocols and approaches of the research. These are

particular meeting sections, defined as “intersection meetings” and oriented to identify

objectives and shared languages (Chiu & Shu, 2007), as well as, to acquire research data in an

experiential manner. Biologists can also offer a selection of the most relevant scientific

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literature of their research, possibly using a more accessible language (Nagel et al., 2010), and

provide sketches or diagrams of the main representative concepts. These sketches are

redesigned and reinterpreted by designers, who schematize them into 2D or 3D natural

models that visually and descriptively reproduce principles (Pahl and Beitz, 1996),

phenomena, functions, processes and structures that may be transferred.

Hybridization of biological characters to be transferred. After the in-depth step, the analogy

approach between nature and artefacts (Moreno, Yang & Wood, 2014) is applied. This is

carried out by the “analogy transfer matrix”, in which biological systems opportunities and

limits can be correlated with design products to foresee different possible application

scenarios according to the evolutionary needs of market and society (ElMaraghy &

AlGeddawy, 2012). It can be figure out as a cartesian system in which are assigned: at the

ordinates, the biological elements with their potentially transferable characteristics (e.g.

iridescent / camouflage effect; porous structure / filtering; stratified structure / structural

optimization; etc.); at the abscissas, the corresponding design analogous problems of artificial

products that can be solved with biological solutions, for example chromatic variability,

breathability, lightness, resistance, etc. Thus, based on the emerging matrix systems and

market requirements evaluation, designers can easily elaborate different innovative concepts

of products.

d) Proposal of new concepts that interpret, express and enhance science

These design concepts are then submitted to scientists in order to validate them, and evaluate

together the most appropriate areas of application identifying potential production partners

interested in bio-inspired innovation opportunities.

e) Development of the project

In this phase, the project of products is developed based on the nature models (Chakrabarti

et al., 2005). It is important that designers remain coherent with the nature principles that

have inspired the project; thus, to support this, the “coherence matrix” must be realized. In

this matrix are considered: the application field (e.g. furniture, lighting, fashion, biomedical,

sports, tourism and cultural heritage, food, etc.), the type of product and the specific design

issues addressed to productive and user needs inspired from biological solutions.

f) Prototyping and feasibility

Once verified the project coherence by checking the matrix, it is possible to define the final

project (possibly in collaboration with the scientists), and translate the concept into products.

In this phase, prototyping takes a particularly important meaning, because it is configured as

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a planning tool, as well as, a verification tool. Details, ergonomics, materials and processes are

mainly defined in the physical modelling phase, through a direct approach to the project.

Generally, different types of models are created corresponding to progressive degrees of

definition, which are then verified and evaluated through tests that involve in some cases the

stakeholders to assess specific aspects such as usability, satisfaction of needs, etc.

4. Design to Biology

In this second approach, design search in the biological field the answers to problems (Fayemi

et al., 2017; Helms, et al., 2008; Baumeister, 2014; Speck, et al., 2008; Gebeshuber, 2008).

These problems emerged from specific requests and needs of companies, institutions, market

and society, their solutions can be found by analogy of function in natural systems. In this

approach, biologists are selected and involved according to the chosen topics. From this point

of view both design and biology are conceived as strategic problem-solving cognitive activities

(Farrel, Hooker, 2014). This approach is the one most frequently used in the design and

engineering professional activity or in the companies that generally rely on a problem solving

approach.

For Design to biology, the proposed steps are:

a) Biomimetic design brief

Designers, autonomously or hired by company or other institutions, elaborate a brief

according to needs that are not sufficiently satisfied by existing products.

Once identified the unsolved design problems, a “matrix of analogies” is elaborated and

completed in a similar way to the “coherence matrix” of the first approach.

In this matrix are identified: application sector (e.g. furniture, lighting, fashion, biomedical,

sports, tourism and cultural heritage, food, work, etc.), type of products and the specific

design issues raised by market and society (ElMaraghy & AlGeddawy, 2012). It is necessary a

statistical surveys based on data collection or interviews aimed to deep identify the point of

view and needs of users.

b) Design research and scientific references

Beginning from the matrix of analogies, it is necessary a deep online research on existing

products that respond to the identified needs, and list their respective limits and opportunities

(highlighting the reasons for which they do not fully satisfy the identified problem). Thus, in

this phase, a list of products is draw up inserting the name of designer, company, target

market, solving strategy of design problem, technologies, materials used and cost.

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Then, the moment to query nature comes. Through an online researches of words and key

concepts (with strategic-planning intent) and the expert biologist consultation, designers can

select different scientific references of natural systems that seem to contain in their logics,

structures and behaviors, the solutions necessary to solve analogue design problems. For this

purpose, designers need to ask specific questions, trying to investigate different areas of

biology at different scale by searching possible bioinspired solutions on generalist or

specialized platforms using specific keywords. In the case in which designers involve biologists,

the research of natural solutions occur through specific intersection meetings illustrated in

the previous Biology to Design approach. In such circumstance, biologists, led by designers to

search in specific directions, find the most appropriate biological references to be use as

models (generally, employing less time). Once identified the natural solutions, biologists can

also provide more detailed scientific information by inherent scientific articles, graphs and

data.

c) Design strategies and references in-depth

Once selected and analysed design references products with all their limits and advantages,

designers can identify the areas of intervention to realize new concepts e.g. possible scenarios

to propose new solutions for unresolved problems, related use / experience models and other

design strategies to be pursued. Based on these elements, (which implement the matrix of

analogies), the analysis of scientific references can be deepened identifying the biological

principles and knowledge from which draw inspiration, as well as, the modalities of biological

transfer and the possibly to collaborate with expert scientists. The intersection meetings,

begun in the previous phase, and the activities of representation and interaction with

scientists (as it is illustrated in the Biology to Design approach) continue and intensify in this

phase. Also there, it is important that designers and biologists collaborate sharing solutions

and objectives in order to achieve mutual advantages. At the same time, the project must

converge to feasible and achievable results considering the technologies of productive process

and the economic point of view.

The following phases coincide with those of the Biology to Design approach:

d) Proposal of new concepts that interpret, express and enhance science

Taking into account all the previous steps, designers can proceed to the definition of one or

more concepts that respond to the design scenarios hypothesized using the matrix of

analogies. Different design concepts are then proposed to biologists, who check the

consistency and coherence with the scientific principles, and to the companies, which

ascertain their usefulness and feasibility. After these validations derives a single concept that

is launched to project phase and developed in the demanding producers and users context;

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when it is possible, a human-cantered approach is advisable, consisting in focus design process

on personal, human characteristics of users via interviews, observations, in-depth

investigations. The chosen concept is generated by the assessment and integration of: needs,

existing solutions, biological references, selection of strategies and processes to be

transferred.

e) Development of the project

Starting from the initial science models, the project is generated through different degrees of

definition. At this stage it is important that the work of the designers remains coherent with

the scientific principles that have generated it. The checklist of the matrix is elaborated.

f) Prototyping and feasibility

Through the matrix of analogy, it is possible to define of the final project (possibly in

collaboration with the scientists, companies and eventual representatives of user category),

and translate of the concept into the final product by modelling, prototyping and feasibility

assessment.

5. Biomimetic Driven Innovation

The HDL pay particular attention to processes, in both Biology to Design and Design to Biology

approaches. In order to reach original trajectories, designers are induced to pursue

hybridizations even between different processes, tradition versus innovation, materials. For

this reason, different prototypes are developed, starting from more theoretical and

conceptual models up to final products that can be reproduced in limited or massive series by

the company.

In these approaches, it is important that the project raise the interest of science. The

translation of science principles into projects is not just a goal of designers, but made it

significant also for scientists that can see how their research is transformed into innovations,

products and start-ups. The role of designers as facilitator and indispensable actuator in these

processes can motivate scientists to collaborate with.

6. Resulting Products and Discussion

One of the most interesting references in the field of biomimicry is the Biomimicry DesignLens

which suggests to designers some principles of life used by nature which can be used in design

e.g. use life-friendly chemistry; be locally attuned and responsive; adapt to changing

conditions; evolve to survive; integrate development with growth; be resource efficient and

related strategies like break down products into benign constituent; use feedback loops;

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embody resilience through variation, redundancy, and decentralization; cultivate cooperative

relationship; self-organization (Biomimicry Guild, 2016). In the HDL, all these principles, as well

as, other strategies identified during observation of nature and experimentation in lab, are

considered and translated. Thus, the resulting products are sensibly variable in their

conceptual essence, logical process and sustainable aspects: waste ennoblements, new

materials, reacting to environmental factors, integration of biosystems, characteristics and

principles bioinspired.

6. 1. + Design – Waste

Nature reduces wastes and reuses all its waste following a closed loops. The project “+ Design

– Waste” is aimed to learn from nature the ability to recover and regenerate materials and

energy ennobling by design the waste in order to raise the final economic value through the

realization of products such as jewellery, furniture, fashion accessories for which people is

willing to pay a cost that makes the upcycling process convenient.

The HDL designers analyse the production cycles of different activities, especially local

productive processes, identifying the typologies of waste in terms of quality and identity, as

well as, their potential in form of new products. Also the limits and the weakness are seen as

opportunity to identify the best sector of application.

In the Diaglass1 project, waste glass were upcycled and enriched with gold dust through a

process of heating becoming precious jewels. The concept was inspired to diatoms (fig. 1).

Similarly in the project Nature Imprinting2, volcanic stone powder, incorporated in polymer

clay, was used to make jewellery obtaining the shapes from molds realized imprinting natural

textures like cabbage or corals imitating the natural process (fig. 2). Disused glass sheet was

also aesthetically valorised in the project Innesti with the embedding of plant partly burnt that

leave a suggestive slight visual trace. The process was inspired by the fossilazion processes3.

Another project of waste ennoblement was Fragmens4: waste from a marble company was

retrieved and used to make jewels inspired by Pompeian jewellery. In all these cases the waste

materials that has a very low value becomes precious (fig. 3) .

1 Design: Serena Miranda; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

2 Design: Livia Sorgente; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

3 Design: Michela Carlomagno; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella, tutors: Francesce Dell'Aglio, Enza

Migliore.

4 Design: Francesca Liquori. Scientific coordination: Carla Langella, tutors: Francesce Dell'Aglio, Enza Migliore.

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In the exhibit project Mute Azioni5, with a more figurative way of wasted material, the tragic

fire of Città della Scienza Museum have been interpreted through an interactive installation

in which materials involved in the fire conceptually tell the story of their experience and

trauma. With the help of a chemist and a psychologist, the exhibit was designed to show how

the different materials, as well as different people react to traumas. Some people come out

of the traumatic experiences more tenacious than they were in the past, other people change

their external appearance becoming without changing inwardly, and others are modified in

their intimate essence. Similarly, it occurs in materials that go through a catastrophic event.

The project was carried out as part of the international exchange with the California College

of Arts of San Francisco led by Mariella Poli. Italian and American students worked in the

museum area for a week and proposed various different ways of narrating the history of

materials through works of art, communication products, new materials for the new museum

and interactive exhibits. (Langella, 2015).

6.2. Sustainable Biomedical Design

HDL products characterized by reduced life cycles, such as orthopaedic supports used in a

limited therapy time, are designed in a planned degradation i.e. releasing substances that are

not only less harmful but also benign for the environment thanks to their fertilizing, balancing

and regenerating properties. Thumbio6 is a perfect example of these promising product (fig.

4) it is an orthopedic brace for therapeutic immobilizations of hand and wrist in case of

inflammatory and degenerative diseases. It is made with a biodegradable bioplastic based on

starches and waste liquid from the production of buffalo mozzarella, functionalized with

natural anti-oedematous and anti-inflammatory herbal ingredients and reinforced with hemp

fibres. The advantage of bioplastic in a brace is relevant since this type of therapeutic

supports, generally made with conventional polymeric materials, are used in the acute phase

of the pathology and then dismissed. Therefore, the life of this product, is quite limited and,

for hygienic reasons, is unlikely to be reused by others. For this reason, it is highly

5 Mute azioni was the italian design section of an international workshop developed inside the Summer Study

Abroad in Italy titled Environmental Dialogs ideated and realized by Mariella Poli of California College of

Arts, in collaboration with Hybrid Design Lab , Città della Scienza. And le Nuvole. The italian students were

tutored by Francesco Dell’Aglio, Nicola Di Costanzo and Francesco Amato, coordinated by Carla Langella.

The workshop was held in the june 2015 in Città Della Scienza, Napoli with the scientific contribution of

Dario Aquilina (psycologist), Mario Malinconico (chemist, IPCB, CNR), Fabio Borgese (creactivitas) and the

support of some company: 3D Factory, Enjina, Hiltron

6 Design: Clarita Caliendo; Coordinator: Carla Langella, developed with the collaboration of Carlo Santulli and

Antonio Bove.

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advantageous to use a biodegradable material. Thumbio was developed by the collaboration

of designers, material scientists and an orthopaedist which advanced an unusual bio-

composite: multisensory, coloured, thickness differentiated, singular textures and

transparencies, functionalized with active phototherapeutic components in form of roots,

leaves, fibres or flowers for topical use.

6.3. Designers in lab: new bio-based bioinspired material

The HDL dedicates particular attention in the research of new materials in order to obtain new

sustainable solutions enhancing the natural materials and interpreting their biological multi-

functionality in a singular design view. The relationship between design projects and nature is

here bivalent because the new materials contain natural component, but are also inspired by

principles and logics of natural system where they evolved. Complex qualities of nature are

translated into the hybrid material such as cyclic life, adaptability, self-organization,

redundancy, stratifications, non-homogeneity, porosity and hierarchical organization (all

characteristics that make them suitable to meet the complex needs of contemporary design).

In the HDL, these projects were developed directly by designers in laboratories of chemical

institutions in collaboration with chemists and engineers of matter. Designers bring new

points of view to chemistry and new visions leading to sustainable innovations that can

respond to market demands. This deviation from conventional biomaterial research brings

results also for chemical scientists who discover alternative and unconventional innovations.

The research is here not limited to development and creation of new material or material

system, as usually happens in chemical laboratories, but also reaches direct application into

products that verify their feasibility and usability properties. In the project New materials form

the sea7 (European project PIER in collaboration with the IPCB Institute of CNR) 60 new

materials were developed by HDL designers in a chemistry laboratory with this bio-inspired

design approach embedding components of marine organisms such as algae, diatoms,

crustaceans, mussel valves (fig. 5). The materials obtained are highly sustainable and emulate

the complex properties of natural materials, resulting in non-homogeneous, anisotropic and

multi-chromatic materials specifically tailored to be applied in lamps, accessories, furnishing

elements.

7 Design Francesco Amato, Clarita Caliendo; coordinator design: Carla Langella; coordinator material science:

Mario Malinconico.

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6.4. Interact with nature

Hybrid products are designed to constantly adapt to external changes and feedback loops.

This approach corresponds to HDL products that incorporate materials that can react to

environmental factors such as humidity, light or the presence of polluting factors, by

modifying their characteristics and performances.

One of the first projects of this field was Edo, a photovoltaic shelter inspired by the

physiological processes of diatoms to extract energy from the sun to perform photosynthesis.

The concept proposed is a multifunctional shelter that provides shade during the day, light at

night, energy to charge portable devices and information on environmental data aimed to

sensitize people on the atmospheric pollution. The project was awarded with an honourable

mention in The best image of the year 2008 competition promoted by the journal Science and

the National Science Foundation (De Stefano, Langella, Auletta, 2010).

6.5. Nature inside the process

In the HDL nature is not conceived just as a source of raw materials, but also as component of

the product and its realization process. Biological and synthetic components coexist in hybrid

products, triggering synergistic and cooperative relationships according to a co-evolutionary

and mutualistic approach. This happens, for example, in a photovoltaic lamp that incorporates

the natural sponge Euclpetella8 activating a cooperation between natural factors, such as solar

energy and the sponge ability to act as “biological optical fibres” focusing the light, with

artificial factors such as photovoltaic panel, resin and digital manufacture processes (fig. 6).

The result of a synergy between nature and artifice is also the lamp Loofalight9 in which are

integrated: recycled component, coming from the recovery of a disused appliance, natural

component (the loofa), cultivated by the user, and designed component that guarantees the

universal connection between the elements (7).

Another example is the fruit packaging DIApaper10 that responds to the need to eat healthier

and to increase fruit consumption. The folded structure inspired by origami allows you to

transport a single fruit in a mechanically protected way. The packaging paper has been

8 Design: Simona Sbriglia, coordinator design: Carla Langella; parametric design e 3D model: Gabriele

Pontillo: Biology: Valentina Perricone.

9 Design: Piera di Marino, coordinator design: Carla Langella.

10 Design: Mara Rossi, scientific coordinator: Carla Langella.

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specifically designed also to increase the fruit life thanks to the inclusion of diatomaceous

earth flour (diatomite) able to absorb substances responsible of the fruit rotting processes.

Another natural component that has been functionally integrated for the realization of

innovative products is the hemp. “Hempy Campania” is a project aimed to promote the basis

for hemp production retrieval in Italy and a "design based" creations that reinterpret it as

traditional material. Hemp is indeed a material of the past, however, for its properties of

renewability, profitability, multi-usability, ability to regenerate land, it is proposed as an ideal

material for a sustainable future. The examples of products born of this project are numerous,

including benches11 (fig 8; fig. 9), lamps12 (fig. 10) and jewels developed using untreated hemp

fibres, while with the fabric were created new bags and multi-functional clothing.

6.6. Biological flows in design

The HDL experience and research is also resulted in new forms of hybrid activities aimed to

reduce environmental impacts of society and market through the integration of the multiple

discussed paradigms of sustainability. The generative bio-inspired approach applied to design

process, assisted by parametric modelling and digital fabrication technologies, allows to

develop a new generation of hybrid products that are customizable (on request) adhering to

specific needs, optimized in terms of consumption of matter and energy, therefore more

sustainable. The hierarchical structure of properties such as porosity, density; elasticity,

makes designed products able to adapt more easily to changing conditions and to different

types of loading and stress distributions.

An excellent example is the bioinspired bicycle helmet13 designed to increase the performance

of sportive helmets imitating the hierarchical and alveolar structure of the diatom cell valve

able to reduce weight, improve breathability and absorb better the energy of potential

impacts. The helmet is made of three layers in different materials printed in 3D and joined

together by a ribbing as happens in diatoms.

The inspiration to biological structure regards not only the mechanical behaviour but also the

hydraulic behaviour. In the project Aguaviva14 a hydroponic vase inspired by the hydraulic

11 Hempbench. Design Angela Bonanno, scientific coordination: Carla Langella. Pancan. Design Domenico

Napolitano; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella, Biology: Valentina Perricone.H

12 Hemplamp. Design Nicola Esposito, Laura Guarino; scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

13 Diatom Helment. Design: Paula Studio (Valerio Ciampicacigli e Simone Bartolucci).

14 Design: Valentina Pianese; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

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structure of the pharyngeal basket of tunicate was developed to reduce the consumption of

water necessary for the cultivation of domestic plants (fig. 11).

In addition to the described mechanical properties, some HDL products embody other

characteristics and principles inspired by nature such as the variation, redundancy, and

decentralization strategies.

An example of this principles is the HDL Auxetic neckbrace , an innovative solution for tech

pathology correlated with the intense use of digital mobile devices (Parasuraman, 2017).

Women are more susceptible to this pathology and must be assume a correct neck posture

wearing a collars for about 10 days (12). The design solution arises from the need to overcome

the discomforts caused by existing cervical collars, such as the lack of breathability and

freedom of movement, the non-adaptability to different anatomies, the difficulty in carrying

out some daily activities and, finally, the outward appearance that does not facilitate its daily

use (Santulli & Langella 2016).

This project proposes a collar for women structurally inspired by the auxetic structures

observed in the skin of salamanders and other reptiles that allow large expansions without

breakage. It is a geometrical property that determines an atypical mechanical behaviour:

when the structure is pulled, it expands in the four directions and, when compressed, it

compresses in all four directions. Thanks to this property the collar is particularly comfortable

continuously recall maintain the correct posture. The use of auxetic structure, compared to

conventional materials and structures, makes this collar more resistant, flexible, transpiring,

and adaptable to the anatomy of the neck because it supports movements in different

postures, like a second skin.

The same approach, using different geometry, was applied into the design of an unstable chair

that helps the training of abdominal muscles like the ball-chair: The Auxetic chair15 (fig. 13) is

designed and created as highly dynamic seat that adapts to different anatomies and respond

to principles as flexibility, extensibility and mechanical resistance of the auxetic structures.

7. Nature details. Introducing biology to designers

The changes in the design approach, and the hybrid design research and experimentation

processes with other disciplines in order to face need a revision of the university teaching

methods to prepare students to learn and interact with other disciplines, Design university

15 Design: Martina Panico Relatore: Carla Langella, correlatore: Carlo Santulli.

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must change and renew itself in this direction. At this aim, in HDL students and researchers

are introduced, even immersed, in other disciplines with the formula designer in lab to

undergo a process of deconstruction and reconstruction approach, to make designers and

researchers more flexible, adaptable, curious, open and collaborative. The HDL also developed

an innovative teaching methods called “Nature Details” aimed to foster these processes.

Nature details is an educational module in which designers and biologists teach together how

to learn and inspire from nature, deeply observing and admiring its ability to adapt, to self-

organize, to answer to variable conditions, to generate organized form of complexity, as well

as, to visualize and respect its high but limited resilience. For this purpose, students of the

course “Bio-innovation” course of the Master degree in “Design for Innovation” at University

of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” are induced to focus on details of different biological

constructions through micro- and macro- scales observations. Focusing on details is a

strategical choice: they are important for design, especially in made in Italy design, as well as

in natural systems; nature details can show the precision and the complexity of biological

systems subliming principles, equilibrium and processes of natural selection and evolution.

Thus, different biological constructions are submitted to student’s attentions such as flowers,

leaves, sponges, insects, shell of bivalve, gastropods, cephalopods, vertebrate bones, etc.;

then, they are analysed at different scales, from real (naked eye) to magnified scales, using a

magnified glass and digital microscopes.

The didactic value of these observations are assured and enhanced by the assistance of

multidisciplinary guides: a biologist, who describes the biological motivations of each

observed details such as shapes, stratifications, textures, layers, porosities and hierarchies;

and a designer, who illustrates and interprets the possible constructive and generative

choices, as well as, different examples of their biomimetic transfers into design projects. These

two different points of view allow intensive and suggestive dialogues between disciplines

(Thiel et al., 2015) maintaining coherent the analogies, the intuitions and the way of thinking

nature.

Many projects raised from these activities and several students, fascinating by the new ways

to view natural systems, decided to further approach and dialogue with scientists.

HDL promotes these dialogues with scientists also by guiding students in laboratories and

scientific institutions. Students are here stimulated to works with scientist in different ways

such as realizing digital bi- and tridimensional models that are useful to better understand

how scientists research principles and laws in nature and especially how to transfer them in

possible innovative products. As noted in previous paragraphs, for each project raised from

science, also scientists benefit from translating their research into innovative design projects

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and, moreover, from design modelling they can obtain scientific models usable for publication,

promotion, teaching and research itself. In the diatom projects, for example, a design student

realized 3D models starting from electron microscope images that physicist and biologist used

for their specific mechanical, fluid dynamic and optical simulations. As consequence, these

didactic activities are transformed in another successful form of mutual and bi-univocal

collaborations between disciplines.

8. Conclusions

The described design experiments and approaches reveal how contemporary design has to

deal with scientific and technological culture in order to adapt its products to the complexity

of current living conditions. It is therefore necessary that designers and scientists share skills

and tools to collaborate and develop adequate methodological approaches to evolve new

systems of production more integrated with nature (Oxman, 2016).

Design must adapt to a new way of perceiving sustainability, in its quantitative and qualitative

aspects. There is a contrast between quantitative impact assessment methods, that are based

on measurements of the amount of matter and energy used or substances and chemical

components involved (such as the Life Cycle Assessment), and the qualitative-interpretative

methods that try to include the immaterial, aesthetical aspects and property that are generally

used by design but not quantifiable. Nonetheless, design in collaboration with science, and in

particular with biosciences, can develop new methods and indicators that are more

comparable and reliable.

Moreover, a new principle of sustainable smartness inducted by nature must be added to

these qualitative and quantitative evaluation systems according to an analogy between

biological and production evolution. A smartness that is made up of resilience, adaptability,

self-organization, as well as, empathy intended as the ability to make people to love products.

Qualities that determine a greater and lesser impact both on social and environmental

systems. Design must take these factors into account, and must be able to implement them

in a sustainability assessment, developing specific indicators for identified biological qualities.

In function of these evolutionary scenarios, the designer must be able to manage the

extension of his field of intervention with new technical-scientific skills, greater elasticity, and

spirit of experimentation and prefiguration capability. Schools and universities must adapt to

these training needs and aim to generate new hybrid professional figures with the right tools

and skills to manage processes of disciplinary intersection, to understand new worlds induced

by science and to translate them into possible innovations.

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Finally, designers have a great opportunity: they can explicit the materials and production

processes used in products, induce appropriate use patterns, make the intentions of the

companies transparent. In the context of sustainability where there are many

misunderstandings and the information are frequently camouflaged or manipulated, design

can tell the truth.

Figures 1 Diaglass, jewels realized upcycling glass with gold dust through heating process.

Design: Serena Miranda. Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

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Figures 2 Nature Imprinting, jewels realized upcycling volcanic stone powder, incorporated

in polymer clay, obtaining the shapes from molds realized imprinting natural textures like

cabbage or corals. Design: Livia Sorgente; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

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Figures 3 Frammenti, jewels realized upcycling waste from a marble company (Alfa Marmi).

Design is inspired by Pompeian jewellery. Design: Francesca Liguori; Scientific coordination:

Carla Langella.

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Figure 4 Thumbio, orthopaedic brace realized to be used in therapeutic immobilizations for

inflammatory and degenerative diseases of hand and wrist made with functionalized

biodegradable bioplastic. Design: Clarita Caliendo; coordinator: Carla Langella, developed

with the collaboration of Carlo Santulli and Antonio Bove.

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Figure 5 New materials form the sea. Design Francesco Amato, Clarita Caliendo; coordinator

design: Carla Langella; coordinator material science: Mario Malinconico.

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Figure 6 Photovoltaic lamp integrated with the natural sponge Euclpetella. Design: Simona

Sbriglia, coordinator design: Carla Langella; parametric design e 3D model: Gabriele Pontillo:

Biology: Valentina Perricone.

Figure 7 Loofa Lamp. lamp made with artificial material and cultivated matter. Design: Piera

Di Martino, coordinator: Carla Langella.

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Figure 7 Hempbench, bench made of raw hemp fiber. Design Angela Bonanno, Scientific

coordination: Carla Langella.

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Figure 8 Pancan, bench made of hemp fiber and cement, inspired by the structural

optimization of diatoms. Design Domenico Napolitano; Scientific coordination: Carla

Langella, Biology: Valentina Perricone.

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Figure 9 Hemplamp, lamp made with raw hemp fiber and liquid ceramic, inspired by

traditional spindles. Design Nicola Esposito, Laura Guarino; Scientific coordination: Carla

Langella.

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Figure 10 Aquaviva. Design: Valentina Pianese; Scientific coordination: Carla Langella.

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Figure 11 Auxetic neckbrace, Auxetic cervical collar. Design: Martina Panico, coordinator:

Carla Langella, material science: Carlo Santulli.

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Figure 12 Auxetic chair, dynamics session adaptable to different anatomies. Design: Martina

Panico, coordinator: Carla Langella, material science: Carlo Santulli.

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Biography of the Authors

Carla LANGELLA*

Architect, PhD, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at Università degli Studi of Campania

“Luigi Vanvitelli”, where she lectures “Product Design” at the Bachelor degree, “Bio-

Innovation Design" and "Design for visualization of the Science” at the Master degree of the

Department of Architecture and Industrial Design and “Product Design I” at the Bachelor

Degree in “design and Communication” of the Department of Architecture and Industrial

Design (DADI). She lectures also as invited professor “Product design and Communication

Design” at University Iuav of Venezia.

Valentina PERRICONE**

Naturalist and marine biologist; she achieved a bachelor degree in “Natural Science” at the

Federico II, University of Naples, and a master degree in “Marine Biology” at the Alma Mater

Studiorum, University of Bologna. She works at the Zoological Station Anton Dohrn of Naples,

in the department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms (BEOM). Currently, she is an

“Environment, Design and Innovation” PhD student and member of Hybrid Design Lab at

University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa (CE) where she collaborates with Professor

Carla Langella for “Bio-innovation design” and “Design for visualization of science” in the

master course of “Design for Innovation”.